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‘Mia Hall thought the hardest decision she would ever face would be whether to pursue her musical dreams at Juilliard or follow a different path to be with the love of her life, Adam. But what should have been a carefree family drive changes everything in an instant, and now her own life hangs in the… More balance. Caught between life and death for one revealing day, Mia has only one decision left, which will not only decide her future but her ultimate fate.’

Yesterday I went to see If I stay which is an adaptation to Gayle Forman’s novel which I read recently. It had a lot to live up to with all the Young adult book to movie adaptations coming out this year (each year there seems to be more and more!) particularly The Fault in our Stars.

I was very surprised to see that I actually preferred If I stay to TFIOS! Not to compare the two films competitively or anything but if you liked The Fault in our Stars you will love If I stay.

I have to say that it was a very faithful adaptation to the book, but a lot of scenes (which ended up being some of my favourites) were added too.

After reading the book I thought that it would be very hard to adapt due to all the different flashback and also because the book is very uniquely not split up into chapters so there is really no beginning middle or end.

The acting was superb. Chloe Grace Moretz portrayed a fantastic Mia, the sad scenes made you sympathese with the character so much and they were just so gripping and heart wrenching. This film also made you really question what you would do put in her position.

Jamie Blackley was a great casting choice for Adam, he was funny charming and even infuriating at times. I was weary at first but he completely grew on me.

I loved how big of a part the parents played in the movie which you don’t see that often in YA. Especially not in romance type books. Also a big aspect of the film was the music, as both leading roles are musicians, but both love a very different genre of music. Adam plays in a rock band but Mia is into classical music and plays the Cello. My favourite musical scene was definitely the bonfire scene.

A must see for anyone, I feel like a great lesson or more like a reminder is told in this story.

The Fault in our Stars Movie review

‘Hazel and Gus are two extraordinary teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them – and us – on an unforgettable journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that they met and fell in love at a cancer support group.’

Last night I went to the special fan screening of The Fault in our Stars as the movie is not yet out in the UK, When we were heading into the cinema we got an awesome limited edition poster of Hazel and Augustus and a TFIOS lanyard which was a very nice surprise and got me even more excited for the film. And then the film started…

It was fantastic, and one of the most accurate book to movie adaptations I have ever seen. As the book is in Hazels POV and her thoughts and feelings are not expressed in actions and speaking but in her head I thought it would be very hard to show successfully what Hazel was thinking. However they did a really great job with 90% of other movies I’ve seen where they do a voice over to express thoughts of the character it has been cringe worthy or just didn’t quite work. But with this film it just fits.

The acting was great. They portrayed the characters amazingly. The two stars of the film Ansel Elgort who plays Augustus Waters and Shailene Woodley who plays Hazel Lancaster had such perfect chemistry, I have never seen an audience be so invested in a film people were crying and laughing and clapping. There performances were so beautiful to watch. Gus’s best friend Isaac who is played by Nat Wolff also did a fantastic job at making this character come to life, the film made you truly appreciate there friendship.

Most dialogue was from the book and it was like reading the book but the little things they added and the little details just made this film so much more perfect.

After the film finished we got shown a Q&A with the Cast and filmmakers and John Green who is the author of TFIOS. It was very interesting to watch they answered some really interesting questions, after that we got to see the deleted scene which had John green in and I really wish it was kept in the film because I can remember it being a nice scene in the book.

Overall it was a fantastic experience going to the fan screening, and from someone who LOVED the book I guarantee you will be very pleased with the film.

“Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel star in this offbeat romantic comedy, the feature debut of music video director Marc Webb, which chronicles 500 days in the on/off relationship of Summer (Deschanel) and Tom (Gordon-Levitt). While Summer steadfastly refuses to believe in true love, asserting that real life will always get in the way in the end, Tom has thrown caution to the wind and fallen hook, line and sinker in love with her. Where can their so-called relationship lead?”

This movie is an attempt of a mix in genres, it has a little bit of romance trying to appeal to the male gender, does it really work? No not really, no matter how much you try to keep the girliness of the film down with the tag line ‘This is not a love story. This is a story about love” its still much more appealing to men.
The acing in the film was mediocre and I have seen Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel do much better in differnet roles. There was no attachments to the character and I felt that I did not care whether they were happy in the end or not. There was some humorous moments, not hilarious moments just funny.

With a not to exciting plot and not very fitting cast members, what made this movie into a six star rating?

The format of the film was very unique and showed an original side to the film, the movement of time was one of the only things keeping you focused on the film. Although feeling very slow paced and as though nothing was happening throughout half the film I liked the way it was filmed, going back and forth, it made it much more interesting.

The soundtrack of the movie gave it a more upbeat and more lively tone with the likes of the Smiths appearing a few times.
I do also love the messages it was sending throughout the film depending on your own opinion you could think that think it could be a happily ever after story in which experience provides insight and everyone moves on or the ending could just represent a terrible sort of cycle which one person is going to experience and re-experience with different people.

“Jennifer Lawrence stars as 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, a citizen of the totalitarian post-apocalyptic country of Panem, formerly the United States. Every year, the all-powerful ruling agency known as the Capitol selects one boy and one girl from each of Panem’s 12 impoverished rival districts to fight to the death on live national television in a contest known as ‘The Hunger Games’, in which the winner is given food to feed their entire district for a year. When her younger sister Primrose (Willow Shields) is selected as a contestant, Katniss steps up to take her place in the match. Under the tutelage of inebriated former champion Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), Katniss goes into training for the fight of her life.”

Both the book and the film are much deeper and much more ambitious than any other young adult film of this day and age, this film shows how society is manipulated into thinking what the government wants them to think through them and the media, but in a much more entertaining way and more engaging to teenagers.

In “The Hunger Games” in Panem a country divided in to twelve Districts remaining under the control of the Capitol. There was once thirteen Districts, but when they rebelled against the central power, the Capitol destroyed completely the District 13 with all its population and then defeated and submitted again the twelve others. In order to remind to its subjects how absolute is its power, the Capitol claims a yearly tribute – one girl and one boy of ages from 12 to 18 from every District. The tributes are then send to an arena and forced to fight, until only one remains alive. This yearly event is called the Hunger Games and it is shown live on TV to all the population of Panem. This film tells the story of what happened at the 74th edition of Hunger Games.

The two tributes in the weaker, poorer district (12) are Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) make the games very different this year.. Actors were selected very carefully and they perform extremely well. The two leading roles of Peeta and Katniss fit into there roles very well as though they were made for them. With both very complicated characters to play they did a very good job in being accurate representations of them.

I also absolutely adored the using of the cameras. In some moments of this film we have the impression of going after the characters with a camera, even as though we were in the games with them. During the games they are very dramatic with lots of twists and turns, they are deadly and brutal with not much gore because of the age rating. This film is one what everybody can enjoy and learn from.

“After finally catching serial killer and occult sorcerer Lord Blackwood, legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr Watson can close yet another successful case. But when Blackwood mysteriously returns from the grave and resumes his killing spree, Holmes must take up the hunt one again. Contending with his partners new fiancée and the dim-witted head of Scotland Yard, the dauntless detective must unravel the clues that will lead him into a twisted web of murder, deceit, black magic-and the deadly embrace of temptress Irene Adler”

After seeing so many good and bad adaptations of the world famous Sherlock Holmes, I definitely put Guy Ritchie’s version of this in the good. The casting of the two lading roles: Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as John Watson were superb, they acted in a brotherly manner throughout the film with many laughs and fights. Without these two the film would be completely different and would be lacking humour and originality shown from both the characters. Even the minor characters like Rachel McAdams playing Holmes’s love interest Irene Adler, showed the devious character the con-woman is supposed to be.

With Sherlock having such a superior mind to the rest of us the use of a Phantom camera to give the audience the exact perception of how Sherlock figures out all the crimes and to show what he is seeing. Showing a slow motioned effect perception of what was happening the Phantom camera showed the audience excellent fight scenes.

With such a wide choice of plots to go off from Doyles works, however I feel that they chose the easiest and simplest to understand. And didn’t have faith in the audience to understand a more complicated and interesting plot.

“The film begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.”

The second instalment of the Hunger Games series is a definite improvement on the previous film, which is impossible to believe seeing the already well adapted amazing first movie. This is darker yet much more exciting than the Hunger Games an adaptation of the trilogy written by Suzanne Collins.

Francis Lawrence who took over directing the film franchise from Gary Ross, made many changes between the two films, one of the main filming differences is that he decided to use IMAX mostly for the scenes with the most action when Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and the other victors are in the Arena, this makes the whole experience of watching the film more realistic.

The beginning of the movie had an exciting start and gave us more of an incite to Katniss and Gales relationship (Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth) who previously had not much of a major role in the first film. The beginning also showed off the completely new and original scenes which were not in the book which was a nice surprising for fans of the books.

This movie had a mixture of emotional moving scenes and many humours scenes (usually involving new comer to the cast Jena Malone who plays Johanna Mason a previous victor who gets picked to take part in the quarter quell)

All actors and actresses represented the characters perfectly and all new comers fit into the world perfectly, although wary of many for example Finnick Odair a fan favourite, when first announced that Sam Claflin had got the part many were disappointed and did not set there hopes to high for him, however after seeing his acting and appearance in the film, he looked and sounded the exact Finnick in the books and showed off his funny charisma perfectly. However the most impressive performance by far was that of Josh Hutcherson who played one of the love interests in the film Peeta Mellark, he delivers a role of emotional intelligence and subtle understanding that I hadn’t believed him capable of and I had underestimated his acting skill.

The film had an exciting beginning, middle and end filled with beautiful scenery from New Jersey to Hawaii, with incredible acting all the way through. Now one of the best book to movie adaptations ever made.

“When the kingdom’s most wanted–and most charming-bandit Flynn Rider hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel, a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, in search of a ticket out of the tower in which she’s been locked for many years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief. The unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs.”

This is by far one of the best animated films I have seen in a long time, the story is very well written that keeps close to the theme of the old classic tale Rapunzel however changing certain aspects of the story which fits with modern day humour of children. With every Disney movie comes great songs and Tangled did not disappoint, certain catchy songs include: “when will my life begin” sang by Mandy Moore (Rapunzel) and “I see the light” also sang by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi (Flynn Ryder). All songs are sang with passion and chemistry between the two main roles.

Every character has a unique personality that makes the characters incredibly likeable and relatable: Rapunzel who is caring yet clumsy makes her outcast to previous Disney princesses, who in many peoples opinions are not realistic enough; Flynn Ryder the love interest with a hilarious and flirty personality and even the two animal sidekicks-Pascal the chameleon and Maximus the horse who add to the comedy of the film, which makes the film even more entertaining.

This is the most stunning animated film Disney has made in years, as expected considering it is the second most expensive film ever made, the beautiful colour scheme is unlike any other Disney film and is therefore unique to any other animated film I have ever seen.

Overall I think this film will appeal to all ages whether you are a child, teenager or even an adult and whatever gender this is a film you will definitely enjoy no matter who you are. Now one of my favourite animated films.

Thor review

Plot Summary:

“At the centre of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

As someone who hasn’t read the Thor comics nor know a lot about Norse mythology, I do not know how faithful this film, however like most Marvel films although very different and not very accurate, still very entertaining. The viewer starts with no attachments to the arrogant leading character- Thor (Chris Hemsworth) who seems to be always disobeying the rules, but as the plot moves on, you begin to see the character develop into a likeable hero and begins to behave like a true Marvel leading role.Although looking the part Chris’s acting seems a little bland to start with compared to Tom Hiddleston’s acting of one of the villains of the film, Loki, Tom showed a snarky and mischievous side to the character. Viewers of the film feel sympathy towards Loki (even though being the villain of the film) at his realisation of his tragic childhood, credit has to be given to the fantastic acting from Tom. The love interest to Thor- Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), a scientist who helps Thor adapt to his new surroundings, and although great acting and chemistry between the two, it seems a little insta-love and unrealistic. The human sidekicks to the film including Jane brought a hint of comedy to the film and all behaved realistically as well as the struggle of Thor attempting to fit in with the human world is also very humorous.

A lot of the parts of the film could of easily been explained much better for example the tesseract although this discovery leads on to The Avengers, however this means that the viewer is slightly confused through out the whole film. In comparison to previous Marvel films this focuses on the characters more than action, as these action scenes- although being made very well-are seen very rarely.

Overall, Thor is a very well made and scripted film with a great cast with a mixture of genres: Action/Romance/Humour and it would be very hard to find a person who did not enjoy this film thoroughly as it is suitable for a mixture of audiences.